This month I was kept busy studying a lot, so I was really glad to head home for spring break! I have a feeling that I will have a lot more schoolwork after break, since several of my classes will have term papers and I will have a couple large projects, too. This month I was letting myself get stressed out, and not getting enough sleep on a regular basis, so I needed the break to catch up on rest. I’m very glad I had the opportunity to just hang out at home and relax. I got to catch up with some cousins and friends, see a couple of movies, and celebrate my mom’s birthday.
My co-presidents of Greenfield Club and I planned a retreat for the club this month which we held at a nearby farm on St. Patrick’s Day. Although many club members were too busy with schoolwork and such to spend all day away from campus, we had a successful retreat nonetheless. We participated in two fantastic trainings from the Northwest Institute for Community Enrichment, or the NICE, which focused on sustainability, developing visions and goals, and how to carry those visions into reality. The trainings were inspirational and it was refreshing to spend the day away from school on a beautiful farm. I also had a lot of fun buying and preparing a burrito feast for the retreat. We overestimated the amount of food people would eat by quite a bit. I made more rice and grated more cheese than I had ever done at one time before!
The student senate voted early in the month on a proclamation to support ending the sale of bottled water on campus. This proclamation was created as part of a campaign against bottled water led by two friends, Annika Yates and Collin Morris. I went with them and other members of Greenfield to participate in the senate debate about the proclamation before the vote. The debate was interesting, and we were frustrated by some determined opposition, but we felt we made a strong case in favor of the proclamation. The senate passed the proclamation, which is a great step forward for the campaign. The proclamation shows that the student body, represented by the senate, supports getting rid of bottled water, and it can now be taken to the administration and food service. Bottled water is ecologically unsound and, let’s be honest, a waste of money when we have wonderful tap water in Oregon. Plastic waste and pollution is a serious issue that we need to stand against, and I feel strongly that Linfield is on the right path towards reducing its environmental impact by banning bottled water.
Study abroad orientation for next year’s study abroad participants was also this month. I was asked to moderate the panel of returnees, which allows students to get advice and answers about studying abroad from other students. My role was to ask the questions of the panel, pass the microphone around to them, and watch the time. I was nervous that it would be difficult to pace the questions in the time allotment, but it really wasn’t hard and it went well. It was fun to be a part of the orientation, and I hope the panel was informative and got the students more excited about studying abroad. I remember being ridiculously excited when I was at the orientation last year
I am headed back to McMinnville and feeling recharged for the second half of the semester. I am excited for planning Earth Week and for the weather to get nice! As much as I love winter, I am ready for it to stop randomly snowing, especially since measuring trees is really cold in the snow!